I came across falconers in eastern China who flew the much revered TuHu or Hare Tiger. This is the name they give to the Saker Falcon which is trained to work with a team of long dogs in the pursuit of big brown hares on the huge agricultural flat lands of eastern China.

Each falcon was owned by a collective of peasant farmers who care for it in turn, they worked their best dogs with the falcon who’s job it is to run the hare in a large circle whilst the falcon rained multiply blows to the hare to knock it out.

The hoods these falcons wore were remarkable, and I was lucky to track down the maker Mr. Qiao. The “Guan Mao” hood is an intricate work of art with a decorative ventilated back, it is known as the “Official Hood” and only used for the Emperor, and his Dukes hawks and falcons of Qing Dynasty of ancient China. These hoods would grace a collectors cabinet in pride of place.